Excavators are typically used on construction sites and in mining operations for the removal of earth. Because of the excavator's design, it is difficult for an operator of an excavator to determine the orientation and motion of an excavator bucket once the excavator bucket drops below the operator's “horizon” (which might be defined by the bottom of a window of the excavator cabin, by the ground surface, etc.).
Traditionally, two people are required in order to determine the location of the excavator bucket. The first person is the operator of the excavator and controls the excavator and the bucket of the excavator from inside the cabin of the excavator. The second person serves as an observer on the construction site and provides information to the excavator operator inside the cabin about the location and motion of the bucket of the excavator. Without the observer providing information to the operator of the excavator, the operator often is forced to guess at the position of the bucket.
This traditional technique of operating the excavator results in several fundamental inefficiencies. First, if an observer is used, those man hours are essentially wasted for the construction team. Moreover, miscommunication can often occur between the operator of the excavator and the observer on the construction site. This miscommunication can result in the operator of the excavator incorrectly positioning the bucket of the excavator and multiple attempts to correctly position the bucket of the excavator.
Accordingly, there is a need for a motion and position tracking system, which can be used, inter alia, in tracking the position and motion of a stick and a bucket of an excavator.